


Why Date Men When You Have Friends Like Me?

by Awluvtardis



Category: ER (TV 1994)
Genre: AU: Elizabeth never performs the transplant on the HIV patients, Also: Sandy's Mom, F/F, Set immediately after the custody settlement, so she doesn't get effectively fired
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-03
Updated: 2020-09-03
Packaged: 2021-03-06 19:53:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,712
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26264515
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Awluvtardis/pseuds/Awluvtardis
Summary: Season 11 if Kerry and Elizabeth became friends, preventing the disaster culminating in Elizabeth's exit from the show.The somewhat-friends to friends to mutual pining to dating AU of Season 11
Relationships: Elizabeth Corday/Kerry Weaver
Comments: 10
Kudos: 13





	Why Date Men When You Have Friends Like Me?

**Author's Note:**

> I Simp for Kerry and Elizabeth and I can never bring myself to watch them fight in Elizabeth's last episodes. So here's the somewhat-friends to friends to mutual pining to dating AU of Season 11

Kerry is staring down at her son resting on her chest, drinking in the sight of him, memorizing every inch of him. The curve of his ears, his delicate nose, his thin eyelashes and lips. The fingers tangled in her dressing gown, holding onto his mother, as if he wanted to make sure she didn’t have to give him away ever again.

But the final custody hearing had been two days before, and while she had been granted primary caregiver, she had meetings tomorrow that couldn’t be ignored.

Which meant she would have to drop him off at the Lopez’s tomorrow morning.

She knew, in the most logical part of her brain, that they couldn’t take Henry from her like they had before, that they had given her primary caregiver status, but the rest of her was a mother afraid they would take her son away from her again. 

She briefly considered running with Henry again, but pushed it aside. All she needed to do was to reign in her nonsensical fears and let logic take over again. 

Her phone rang from the table bestie her and Kerry tuned it out. It would probably be Anspaugh wanting to confirm something about the meeting, she would let it go to the answering machine. 

But it wasn’t Anspaugh, it was Elizabeth, whose silky British words were much more of a balm than Anspaugh's scratchy voice.

“Hi Kerry… Listen, I know you had court a couple days ago and since then no one has heard from you...” Kerry hears a sigh, then a shaky breath. “If you need someone to listen to or get drunk with and unload or something, Rachels staying here and can take care of Ella and I can come over there? Might sound stupid but…” Elizabeth stalled, and Kerry shifted Henry in her arms to face the phone on the end table next to her. “I want to make sure you’re okay. Well, maybe not alright, but as well as can be expected. Erm, call me back, if you want to get together-”

The tone sounded, and Elizabeth was cut off.

Kerry was tempted to call her back and ask her to come over. Last time her instincts as a parent overrode her rationality, Elizabeth was there, talking her down from absconding with Henry. 

She picked up the phone.

  
  
  
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-  
  
  


Elizabeth was speaking as soon as Kerry opened the door, a bottle of red wine in one hand, and a bottle of scotch in the other.

“Hey, I wasn’t sure which you’d want so I grabbed-” Elizabeth stalled as she took in the sight of Henry in Kerry’s arms and she looked back at her, obviously trying to figure out if Kerry was planning on running off with Henry.

“We settled. I get him when I’m not working, and the Lopez’s when I am.”

Elizabeth gasped, her eyes shining in delight. “Oh, Kerry! That’s wonderful! I assume you’ll want the red then?”

Kerry nodded and smiled, not as widely as she had at the courthouse, but it was a very obvious change to Elizabeth who hadn’t seen a true smile on Kerry’s face in months.

Elizabeth took out a couple glasses, pouring a good amount in each, bringing the bottle with her to the couch Kerry had settled on, her crutch propped against the arm, Henry sleeping peacefully in her arms. She sat down on the other side of the couch, turning towards Kerry and handing her one of the glasses. Kerry drank about half the glass in one go before placing it down next to her and using the hand to play with Henry’s hair.

Elizabeth studied Kerry’s expression and noted that the playpen in the corner looked as if she hadn’t placed her son in it in weeks. Kerry looked like she was afraid her son was going to disappear from her very arms. 

“What is it Kerry?”

The woman looked at her and sighed. She shifted to face Elizabeth, using her free hand more than her thighs.

“I have to work tomorrow. Which means I have to drop Henry off again. I know they’ll give him back at the end of the day, I know that, but part of me…”

“Part of you is afraid they wont?”

Kerry sighed, deflating a bit, taking her glass up again and nearly draining it. “I know. It’s stupid.”

Elizabeth reached across and placed a hand on Kerry’s knee. “It isn’t. The last time you had to drop him off, you didn’t see him for a couple weeks. It’s understandable. What’s different though, is that you have a court order that you’re the primary caregiver. They have to give Henry to you at the end of the day. If they don’t, they will probably lose privileges to see him at all, yes?” Kerry shrugged in response, but Elizabeth could tell her words were making an impact; Kerry wasn’t holding Henry so desperately. 

  
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-  
  


Kerry woke with a headache, the alarm next to her blaring. She turned it off and sat up.

She radiated exhaustion, and she curled in on herself, just sitting there staring at an empty crib next to her bed as she had been doing for so many mornings since Sandy had died and Henry had been taken. But she had to get up, make it through another day without her son.

She made her way downstairs, the slow click of her crutch echoing through the entryway. She needed coffee, and maybe something to eat. She missed hot meals, but she didn’t have the energy for it often. She looked into her living room, and stopped. 

The couch had a blanket and pillow on it, wine glasses on the table, an empty bottle of wine sitting next to one of them.

Then the day before flooded back to her and she gasped. 

Henry! She had won custody of her son!

The clink of plates on the counter of her kitchen had her heading in the direction of the noise, the clicking of her crutch faster as she rushed into the kitchen. 

The sight she saw stopped her in the doorway. Elizabeth was multitasking, feeding Henry with a bottle of formula and plating up eggs and bacon.

Waves of emotion washed over Kerry, jumbling together in an unidentifiable mess, save for the relief she felt at the sight of her son, a twinge of grief, and the feeling of rightness of seeing Elizabeth looking ruffled in the lounge clothes she had shown up in yesterday, hair up in a hasty bun, cooking breakfast and caring for Henry. The latter feeling she squashed as soon as it reared her head, not bothering to remind herself that while Elizabeth was a beautiful woman, she was straight and Kerry was not ready to bring someone into her and Henry’s life right now anyways.

  
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-  
  


Kerry shifted the car into park outside the Lopez’s, heart in her throat. A hand covered hers, and she looked to the passenger seat to see Elizabeth, who had the foresight to bring herself a spare outfit and had been kind enough to come with her to drop Henry off. She was bolstering her without a word, her eyes kind and her grip soft, but bracing all the same. Kerry nodded in response, getting out and gathering Henry and his bag, exchanging a grateful smile with Elizabeth as she closed the rear car door.

Mrs. Lopez gave the car a pointed look and a raised eyebrow while Kerry handed over her son, but a muttered excuse about work and paperwork over breakfast staved off the questions. 

“When does your shift end?”

“Should be done at eight.”

“He’ll be ready to go by 8:30 then.”

The words calmed Kerry, the confirmation that she would be getting Henry back at the end of the day settling the rest of her nerves. She confirmed this, gave her son a last kiss on his head, and made her way down the steps, glad the winter was over and she didn’t have to worry about slipping on ice. 

She gave Elizabeth a shaky smile and relayed her gratefulness that she had stayed with her. The woman had helped her immensely, and was even giving up time with her own daughter to help her. She had reassured that Rachel had wanted to spend today with Ella anyways, but she was still immensely grateful. 

And throughout the rest of the day, between meetings with the hospital board, heads of department, over surgical consults and just passing in the halls, Elizabeth checked in with her, either silently or with spoken words, and Kerry was eternally grateful.

The pattern continued past that day, though tapering off a bit as time went on, with Elizabeth making a point to check in each day their shifts overlapped.

  
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-  
  


It was about a month later, and Kerry was in Elizabeth’s office, handing over some paperwork, but the surgeon sitting in front of her seemed to barely acknowledge her presence. Kerry frowned, and turned back to the door, closing it to cut them off from the bustle of the surgical floor, and sat down in one of the chairs.

It took a few moments, but Elizabeth eventually raised her head and started when she noticed Kerry sitting there.

“Oh! Kerry! I’m so sorry, how long were you sitting there?”

“Not long, is everything okay?”

Elizabeth was about to brush her off, but stopped. Kerry looked genuinely concerned, and her resistance crumbled.

“Just dating troubles mostly, I’ve been having dinner with Dr. Lawson and with Dave, Ella’s teacher, and while I feel that giddy new prospect feeling, I’m not sure there’s much more than that, but at the same time, I feel better having some semblance of a life outside of work! And neither of them is really standing out to me, and mostly I just can’t decide if I should call it all off or enjoy it while it lasts.”

Kerry looked a bit stunned at the words, then chuckled at Elizabeth's predicament. Elizabeth, in turn, feigned hurt, which wasn't very convincing when she was smiling too.

“What’s so funny?”

“Sorry, I’ve just realized I had nearly forgotten that dating men is a thing people do!” Kerry’s shoulders shook, and she cradled her forehead in one hand, trying to hide her blushing face from Elizabeth.

Elizabeth looked stricken for a second before she burst out in full bellied laughter. “You  _ forgot _ ? How did you just forget?”

“I don’t know!! How did you get into the situation of dating two guys?”

“Do I look like I’ve a bloody clue? And we’re not dating! Just going out! I’m not sure how I got into this situation, people ask me out and I don't know how to say no or if I really should!” 

Kerry’s giggles slowed to a stop, but she still had a wide smile. “So it sounds like you don’t actually want to go out with them, but you want a social life?”

Elizabeth gave another small laugh. “When you say it like that, it sounds so simple.”

“It sounds like what you really need is friends to ‘hang out’ with after work.” 

Elizabeth shrugged. “Pretty much, but Surgery is a boy’s club and I’m their boss, so most of the surgeons either somewhat resent me or want to sleep with me. Outside of my department, I only really would want to spend time with people in the ER, since we only really deal with Radiology and Oncology otherwise, and Radiology is full of honestly quite boring individuals, Dermatology is full of themselves, and the only woman in Oncology our age was Mark’s Nurse and she gives me this sad look every time I see her.”

“Then you should spend more time with us down in the trenches!”

“With who? You and I are friends, yes, but it’s not like I’m close with anyone else! Susan and I never got along, and she just had a child. Kovac has his ladies man thing going on, the nurses I doubt would want to hang out with more doctors, Carter has his own problems at the moment, and most of the rest of them seem like they would be horrid conversation like Pratt, spend all their spare time working like Abby, or are Interns and Residents.”

“That’s fair, have you taken lunch yet?”

“No, not yet.”

“If you want we can order takeout and hang out? I’d offer drinks later but I doubt that’s a good idea with Henry and Ella in tow.”

Elizabeth’s smile was blinding, and she took her up on the offer, pulling a menu from one of her desk drawers.

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

They continued their working lunches as often as they had the time, and met up after work on occasion for drinks, usually a pub Elizabeth liked because it reminded her of home, even though Elizabeth knew Kerry went to a different bar on Sunday nights, when she let the Lopez’s take Henry for the whole day and night regardless of her schedule so they could take him to their church and the following full family dinner. Kerry had a standing invitation, but never went, citing lingering discomfort and homophobia amongst the Lopez Family.

Today was a Saturday, and Kerry had handed off Henry that morning, and would be picking him up Monday morning as not to disturb his sleep by picking him up after her shift, which ended at 10. Elizabeth knew this ahead of time, and had the foresight to hire a sitter for Ella for the night. 

Elizabeth was supposed to finish work an hour ago, but instead she caught up on some backlogged paperwork and kept her door open, waiting for Kerry to leave her office just down the hall. It was about a quarter past ten when the click of Kerry’s crutch made itself known, and Elizabeth put the patient file in the filing cabinet and locked it, grabbing her bag and leaving her office just in time to intercept the woman passing in front of her office.

“Hey, you’re here late.”

“Waiting for you to finish, want to get out of here?”

“Oh! I didn’t realize you were waiting, I’m sorry Elizabeth, if I’d known-”

“That’s alright, I had to work on patient files anyways. So, where are we going?”

“The usual?”

Elizabeth gave a saucy smirk, and Kerry’s heart skipped a beat. “You could show me the bar you go to? You look like you could use the familiarity.”

Kerry blinked, before looking away, a little wary of what Elizabeth would think of her drinking hole. “It’s probably not your style.”

“And? You have to sit through my style all the time! It’s my turn!” Elizabeth hit the button for the elevator, and shifted to face her. “If you really don’t want to show me, that's fine, but if you’re wanting to go there but scared I won't like it, I promise not to gripe if I don't. Scout’s Honor.”

Kerry did a double take at the American saying and Elizabeth laughed. “Oh hell, I think I picked that up from Mark. Remind me to never say that again.”

Elizabeth had been feeling more comfortable talking about Mark nowadays, especially since Kerry didn’t perpetuate the awkward silences that most of the others did when he was brought up.

Kerry chuckled as they entered the elevator. “Alright, but it is a gay speakeasy, so it’s… pretty different.”

Elizabeth looked intrigued. “Lead the way, Doctor Weaver.”

Kerry laughed, and Elizabeth smiled in return, the mite of anxiety that had crossed Kerry’s face at her admission gone.

  
  


The bar wasn’t too far and after giving the password (swordfish, for some reason) they were shown into an old prohibition era speakeasy that was quite comfortable and tastefully decorated. Elizabeth wouldn’t have been able to tell it was specifically for gay people if it wasnt for the small stage on the opposing side of the long space from the bar with a rainbow tinsel backdrop and the corkboard with recommendations on LGBT safe spaces, including a brochure for County that she recognised from the non-emergent front desk.

She raised her eyebrow at Kerry and gestured to the brochure. “I wouldn’t consider Frank safe to be around.”

Kerry scoffed “Oh, absolutely, I added a note inside to avoid Frank and Pratt, and ask for me if needed.”

Elizabeth laughed. “That makes sense. Want to grab a table?”

There weren’t many left, but there was an alcove around the corner with some free tables, and they took one that seated two, placing their bags and coats on the seats before going to the bar to put in their drink and food orders. Kerry noticed who was working the bar and groaned, and Elizabeth tried to ignore the heat it stirred in her.

“Not a fan of them?” She asked, looking at the bartender whose short neon green hair and megawatt smile were blinding.

“Oh, she’s great, but a bit nosey for my liking. And annoyingly optimistic.” Kerry griped, but there wasn’t any heat behind the critiques. It was rare, Elizabeth noted, that someone got close enough to Kerry that she wouldn’t actually mean any insults given.

However, the bartender whose name tag read “Lia”, heard her and retorted. “Well, I gotta be nosy and peppy when you sit in the corner of the bar and mope! Though it seems you’ve finally brought a lady with you! And a gorgeous one at that!” The bartender purred the word gorgeous and Kerry unconsciously brought her arm to rest posessively around Elizabeth’s waist. Elizabeth, in turn, felt even more hot and bothered. “I’m Lia, what’s your name darling?” 

Elizabeth raised an eyebrow, but did enjoy the bartender who seemed to care about Kerry's wellbeing. “Elizabeth Corday.” she returned, and she wondered to herself why she didn't correct the bartenders assumption that they were there on a date. 

The bartender faux swooned and fanned herself on seeing the woman playing along. “Oh! That voice! Oh, please tell me about yourself, so I can hear you speak longer!”

Kerry huffed and tightened her hold on Elizabeth, and spoke “Alright alright, let us order before you try to poach my friend?”

Elizabeth was starting to truly notice the fact that her stomach sank a bit when Kerry referred to her as her friend.

The idea that she might actually be interested in Kerry, romantically, crept into her head again, and this time she couldn’t ignore it. Unlike her last few dating prospects, she felt like spending time with Kerry was a privilege, and talking to Kerry,  _ touching _ Kerry, many times became highlights of her day. Ella was her greatest gift, but Kerry was becoming a close second.

Could she really consider it? Dating Kerry? It was likely not much would change, they already spent so much time together. Images flashed before her eyes: of cuddling on Kerry’s couch, watching Henry and Ella play, of heated glances over patients and meeting rooms, of cupping Kerry’s cheek tenderly, of  _ kissing _ Kerry Weaver-

“Elizabeth?”

She snapped out of it, realizing she had tuned out Kerry’s order, instead she had spent the time staring at the woman, lost in her fantasies.

She stammered, flushing at Lia’s knowing smirk and turned to Kerry, in silent askance as to what she thought Elizabeth might like. And the order sounded perfect, especially Kerry’s specification of thick-cut fries, having heard Elizabeth wax poetic about the difference between British chips and the much thinner American french fries more than once.

It was worthy of note that Kerry knew they served said thick-cut fries without having to ask on this occasion, as if she had been ordering them every Sunday for the past couple months, now used to them from Elizabeth’s favorite pub. Not that Elizabeth knew that.

  
  


They had shifted to sitting next to each other on the leather bench seat at some point through the night, and Kerry sat there, both in rapture and in disgust with herself, as she enjoyed the feeling of Elizabeth pressed against her, stealing “chips” from the refill basket they had ordered, as if they were Kerry’s only and she was stealing from her plate. Every self-satisfied smirk and hum at the taste of a new fry made her fall even harder, and the part of her that was raging in the recesses of her alcohol inhibited mind that Elizabeth was her very straight very platonic friend and Kerry had no right to focus so intently on all the places where Elizabeth was touching her.

But instead she continued to talk about something Pratt had done since their last lunch that made her want to hit him over the head with her crutch, and reveling in Elizabeth’s laughter.

Then, some girl who was quite obviously drunk made a stop on her way past their table and gasped “Aww! You’re such a beautiful couple!”

Kerry was about to reply to the contrary, expecting to join the usual quick rebuff she was used to by straight woman when people thought they were gay when the woman’s dulcet voice, which still felt like warm honey to her ears despite the slight slur, washed over her. “Aww, you're so sweet! Thank you!”

Kerry was shocked. Elizabeth didn’t defend her straightness like Kerry had expected. She shifted to look at her, and Elizabeth whined. “What? She was being nice!”

Kerry blinked. “You weren’t… uncomfortable?”

“With what?”

“She thought we were a couple?”

“I’d be lucky to have you Kerry, you’re incredible! And beautiful! And strong!”

Kerry gaped. “You’re not… disgusted by the idea? I mean, you could have any guy! You’re absolutely stunning, Elizabeth! Why would you settle for me? No one really likes me!”

Elizabeth shuffled to face Kerry and placed her hands on Kerry’s flushed cheeks. “I really like you, Kerry. You have a shell, sure, but you’re really very kind, and I would love to have you in my life even more.”

Kerry could barely process this, but her loosened tongue let her respond before she spiraled into circular thinking. “Are you asking me out?”

Elizabeth laughed. “Absolutely. We could meet back here tomorrow for our first date?”

Kerry couldn’t believe her ears, but leaned into Elizabeth’s side, basking in the woman. “That would be great.”


End file.
